Shima and Dariush, "Exiled to Turkey."

   I'm Shima Babaei, a 24-year-old Iranian human rights activist. I was arrested several times by the security forces for my peaceful activities and sentenced to six years in prison. At the present time, I’m living in Turkey as a refugee with my husband Dariush Zand, who is also a human rights activist. Unfortunately, we have both been forced to leave our country for our safety.

     I was in the first year of my high school when the bloody election protests of 2009 began in Iran. I was fifteen years old at the time. My father, who has an extensive background of arrests and torture due to his activism, had recently been arrested once again, after the interrogators forced his friend to confess to them about his political activities.

     My father had been in solitary confinement for four months and was severely tortured.  During those four months, we had been deprived from visiting him. Watching him suffer had a huge impact on me. I became familiar with the meaning of the words, injustice, oppression, and torture. His imprisonment determined the path for the rest of my life. I knew I could no longer be silent. I must stand up against oppression!  My activism began with writing anti-government slogans on the walls of my school. When I turned 17, I was outraged when watching the films of those killed in the 2009 protests, especially the death of Neda Agha-Soltan. I was so inspired by her courage that I wished that I could die like her in order for my country to gain freedom.

       I remember that the first time I went with a friend to the gravesites of those killed in the 2009 protests, we were immediately arrested by government agents. We were interrogated for several hours and then transferred to Evin prison. They found out about my father’s background and forced me to sign a pledge to never engage in these activities again and then they released us.

       A few weeks later, I decided I could not abide by this pledge and had to continue speaking out. I began attending the meetings of political activist Atena Daemi.  Atena was very outspoken against forced child labor and the death penalty. Unfortunately, our meetings were raided by government agents and five of my best friends were arrested. However, since I was employed at the time and unable to attend all of the meetings, I was very fortunate to escape arrest.

       My first official detention took place in 2016. I was transferred to solitary confinement by the Revolutionary Guards and subjected to several days of intense interrogation and psychological torture. Due to intense pressure by the Media, I was released.

       My last arrest by the Ministry of Intelligence took place in 2018. I was transferred to Evin Prison and kept in solitary confinement. My husband, Dariush had also been arrested and sent to prison by security forces. Upon my arrival to prison, a prison officer demanded me to remove my clothes and get naked. When I resisted, she violently ripped my clothes off and gave me a pair of dirty prison garments to wear. One of my biggest problems in prison was insomnia. They refused to give me any drugs, but toward the end they began injecting me with an unknown drug that caused me to be extremely ill.

        During the interrogations I was blindfolded and only allowed to raise it up from covering my eyes in order to write down the answers to their questions. I was in Ward 2A and every morning after breakfast I was escorted to the detention room for another 10-hour day of grueling interrogations. During my eight-day imprisonment, I was interrogated for 80 hours by the IRGC (Iran Revolutionary Guard) After my temporary release, I was summoned to the IRGC’s Provisional Bureau twelve times and interrogated face to face for three to four hours at a time. Fortunately, I was not physically beaten, but my interrogator would severely kick the base of the chair I was sitting on and strike me in the head with his pen, demanding me to write out my confession of political activities. After my release I couldn’t trust anyone and became paranoid that security guards were eavesdropping on my conversations. I isolated myself from people at this time and became depressed because of the trauma I had endured.

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        I could see myself sitting in the cold and in the darkness, waiting for my husband to be released from prison. I anxiously paced back and forth in the waiting room and suddenly saw my father rushing towards me. I saw intense sadness in my mother’s eyes as she extended her hand toward me. I looked down and saw myself handcuffed and began running in fear. I gasped for breath and suddenly awoke. Darius was tugging at my clothes, struggling to wake me up from my nightmare!

          “The smuggler is here. We must go!”

        I forced myself to get up because of my husband’s urgings, but I didn’t want to go! I was hoping someone would come and say, “You can both stay in Iran. There is no danger for you!” All I wanted to do was hug my mother and cry, but reality set in and we both quickly left with the smuggler.

        The smuggler had to leave us in the border mountains of Iran and Turkey and we were arrested by border guards. This was the darkest trial of my life. I had resisted leaving my homeland and now once again I had been arrested. After five days we were both handed over to the Immigration Police. Dariush and I were separated. For one month, I couldn’t eat and became violently ill. The horrifying reality of being deported back to Iran took a heavy psychological toll on me. It was because of the Islamic Republic that we had been banned from education, tortured and arrested. Our lives had become a living hell!

        Finally, after six months, we were released and agreed to seek asylum. However, now we have become second class citizens in Turkey and forced to find work on the black market. We have no idea how long our stay in Turkey will be. There are many Iranians presently living here and sometimes it takes up to four years before they can find a country that will sponsor them. The Islamic Republic of Iran has made us prisoners. Darisuh and I are fighting every day to tear down the walls of this big prison and achieve freedom.

Atena Daemi: "I stand for life and humanity."

      In Iran, remaining silent is what the evil regime prefers every slave of the dictatorship to abide by. However, one such brave woman refuses to obey this requirement and her name is Atena Daemi. Atena is well known for her “anti execution” campaign and this is one of the reasons that she is treated so harshly by the government!

      Atena stands strong for life and humanity, which is the total opposite of this “culture of death!” She is passionate about fighting for women’s rights, children’s rights, and for the vulnerable victims suffering on death row. Even while in prison, she is busy writing letters to the government protesting against the inhumane conditions and letting her voice be heard all over the internet.

      Atena’s father was alongside her when she was sentenced in the Islamic’s court of justice. Her father Hosein wrote, “I’ll never forget when they brought Atena to court!”

      Judge Moghiseh: “Are you against execution?”

      Atena: “Yes, I am against execution."

      Judge Moghiseh: “It’s none of your business. We execute whoever we want! And those human rights people can’t stop us!”

      Atena: “One day you will answer for those innocent people you hang. And that day is coming soon!”

      Judge Moghiseh expelled Atena from the courtroom and sentenced her to 14 years in prison.

      For more than 41 years, this evil regime has terrorized and murdered its own people. Atena has refused to remain silent, trying to restore hope and freedom to her homeland. In her never-ending battle against this dictatorship, Atena has also been fighting a personal battle of her own. She has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, while also suffering with persistent dizziness and numbness in her right eye. The medical physician in Qarchak Prison requested that she be given an MRI to confirm his diagnosis and the prison officials vehemently denied his request. In addition to her recent suspected illness, Atena has also been suffering with high blood pressure, kidney stones, and gall bladder problems brought on by hunger strikes. Atena, now 31, has been behind bars since 2016, serving a seven-year prison sentence for meeting with the families of political prisoners, criticizing the Iranian regime on Facebook, and condemning the 1988 mass execution.

       Atena’s parents are deeply concerned about their daughter and have been publicly outspoken to the international communities, begging human rights defenders to be her voice. Her mother longs for the day when she can once again hug her daughter in a free Iran. Atena also longs for the day when her homeland will be free from gender apartheid and its rules, and where women will once again be respected instead of being treated like second-class citizens. Hosein Daemi knows how courageous his daughter is and that she will never give up in the fight.

    “Atena is strong and she will not give up against her oppressors!”

     Despite all of her chronic health issues, Atena continues her fight against a dictatorship government. She has not lost her hope and envisions a free Iran on the horizon.

      “These arrests, detentions, threats, and intimidations are the sacrifices we need to make to gain our freedom and rights…..We should never stop resisting or standing up against oppression. No victory comes easily, and no injustice lasts forever!”

        Atena is shouting freedom while in chains. Do you hear her desperate cry? Stand with this fearless human rights defender and be her voice. Don’t take your freedoms for granted. We have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with those who suffer. It is our duty to humanity!

"Freedom without Jesus is just another wall."

      On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan gave a powerful and memorable challenge to the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as he proudly stood in front of the Berlin Wall to a cheering crowd, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

      Two years later, on November 9, 1989, Reagan’s challenge became a reality! The concrete barrier of the cold war that had separated communist East Berlin from the West collapsed as thousands of people in mass droves crossed to the other side in jubilant celebration! Communism had finally collapsed and freedom had arrived. There would no longer be a death strip between the East and the West. No more machine guns, no more guard dogs. Although it would take another two full years before the complete physical demolition of the wall was complete, the celebration had begun! The death of Communism was now a reality!

      Freedom….This powerful seven-letter word has been the passionate driving force in the hearts of humanity for thousands of years and has caused the death of millions of people fleeing oppression. This seven-letter word is one of the most precious words in the English language, one of the most powerful words on the lips of those giving their lives to be free from dictatorship governments.

      Christian artist, Wayne Watson, reflecting on the historical fall of the Berlin Wall, composed a thought-provoking song on the subject of freedom, that causes us to think deeply about what true liberty really is. The chorus of the song gets right to the point about what Wayne believes true freedom really is……

        "Freedom. People cry for freedom. 
          But freedom without Jesus is just another wall.
         Oh-oh. Freedom. Give the people freedom.
          But give the people Jesus or they got nothing at all."

                                                                                                                                   

        Wayne is challenging us to think about what true freedom really is. Millions of people celebrated the destruction of a physical wall that tore down the barriers of an oppressive political philosophy that had kept them in bondage for many years. Humanity was no longer bound by the chains of a dictatorship that enslaved them to a government that ruled their lives from the cradle to the grave. Now people were finally free to believe and think for themselves. Surely this is what true freedom is all about!

        Two thousand years before the historic collapse of the Berlin Wall, another powerful and life-changing speech was given to a mass of people. Jesus stood before his disciples and a crowd of religious leaders and made an astounding proclamation. He declared:

                      “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!”

       Jesus also taught about freedom and the impact it would have on our lives. However, we need to look closely at the kind of freedom that he was speaking about.

       Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

                      “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves of anyone. What do you mean, “You will be set free?”

                      Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

      Notice carefully, the reaction of the religious leaders. In Jewish heritage, being a part of the great patriarchal family of Abraham conferred a very special status on an individual. The religious leaders were astonished at what Jesus had just told them. Being in the family of Abraham gave them great dignity and value. How can Jesus dare to question that heritage? They believed they were truly free. There was no corruption and bondage to break free from!

       However, Jesus points directly at the heart of their problem, which is also our problem. Slavery to sin. The Pharisees and the Scribes looked pure and clean on the outside. They loved to boast about their own righteousness and spirituality. In their eyes they were perfectly obedient to God’s Law and they constantly looked down on the masses of other people.

       The outward image of true freedom can be very deceptive. That image of freedom was celebrated on a fall day in November when the Berlin Wall collapsed, but as Wayne Watson aptly points out in his song, “Freedom without Jesus is just another wall.”  The physical wall has been demolished but there is another wall, the wall within our souls, that is still holding humanity in bondage. That bondage is the death grip of sin!

         The human heart is in the death grip of sin until it is set free and the chains are broken by the power of Christ. Physical freedom is not enough. Humanity can celebrate freedom from oppressive governments when they fall, but “Freedom without Jesus is just another wall.”  

          Jesus offers us a freedom that no government of the world can ever give us. It is a freedom that breaks the power of corruption and sin in our hearts. It is a freedom that opens our eyes to what it means to have a living and vibrant relationship with the God of the universe! It is a freedom that allows us to dream big and experience a life of true joy beyond anything we can imagine or think! As a Christian author and a human rights activist for Iranians, I have a passion to be a voice for their freedom. It is my pleasure to fight for their human rights and write books to bring awareness to the world about their plight for freedom and justice. However, I have a very important responsibility to make sure that I also persuade them of a freedom that transcends the oppression of physical governments. The Gospel is the true freedom that every Iranian needs. It is the power of the gospel that breaks the chains of sin and liberates us from the inward corruption that is keeping us in bondage.

          I will never stop speaking out for my Iranian friends. I will always email government leaders and be a voice for political prisoners on death row, demanding their freedom. All of this is good and absolutely necessary! But I must balance out my passion with the truth of God’s Word. Jesus said, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

         This is the true freedom that humanity needs. We can never be truly free until the “walls of sin” are torn down in our hearts.